A stunning new Exhibit is opening this Friday at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. VIRGIL ABLOH: Figures of Speech features \the multidisciplinary work of late visionary artist and designer Virgil Abloh. A true renaissance man who founded a streetwear brand that rose to the very pinnacle of luxury fashion, as the first African American man at a French luxury goods house.
He left a remarkable legacy but the great tragedy of his death at 41 means we were deprived of the decades ahead when Abloh was destined to continue to instigate and create and offer his very unique thinking.
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In 2019 Abloh collaborated with the writer Antwaun Sargent to co-curate the EXhibition which was scheduled to open in 2020 but the pandemic delayed its opening, The two were working via WhatsApp right up until the designer’s final days
So there are items that Abloh didn’t get to see completed like a 45-minute loop that fuses ’60s jazz with Houston slab rap. It’s the first thing you see when you enter the Exhibit. As Sargent explains “We all know that Virgil was a prolific DJ,” “And so in a way, you’re greeted with his voice and this idea of community, of breaking down the barriers between different sorts of canons.”
The Exhibit is arranged chronologically with some classic Abhol like the tennis dress and gown he made for the Serena Williams. However, it’s the lesser-known pieces/projects that delight and totally surprise us.
The show ends with one of the three angel looks from his posthumous fall 2022 Louis Vuitton collection, presented in Paris in January.
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” July 1, 2022–January 29, 2023 BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART Great Hall, 1st Floor #VirgilAblohBkM
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